An ambitious plan to unite hundreds of thousands of past students of Jamaican high schools to commemorate National Alumni Day has met its first hurdle in the still festering dispute at Merl Grove High School (MGHS), over the controversial suspension of its principal, Dr Marjorie Fullerton.

The MGHS Past Students’ Association Joint Committee of Jamaica, Canada, and the United States are fiercely opposed to Fullerton being taken before a disciplinary hearing set for tomorrow, following her September 10, 2021 suspension by the David Hall-led school board.

Canada-based president of the joint committee Simone Thomas gave notice yesterday that if the hearing went ahead and dismissed the principal, as the group fears, the past students would not participate in the National Alumni Day event.

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen in August this year declared National Alumni Day, to be marked annually on October 13, beginning this Wednesday, under the theme ‘Paying it forward: Partners in advancing education in Jamaica’.

Wednesday’s virtual event is being hosted by the Jamaica Alumni Association of High Schools; the Union of Alumni Associations (USA) Inc and the Alliance of Jamaican Alumni Associations (Toronto) Inc, which together represent hundreds of thousands of past students whose assistance have largely kept Jamaican high schools going.

“Until Dr Fullerton receives justice, we have nothing to celebrate. We would be attending the event as the active representatives of Merl Grove High while the principal, who has worked with us to bring great progress to the school, is being maligned and dragged before a disciplinary hearing on trumped up charges having nothing to do with running the institution,” said Thomas.

“We saw her recently working the phones feverishly with past students to seek out supplies to protect the students and the school community from the COVID-19 disease, and demonstrating her well-known devotion to the school. A disciplinary hearing should not be the reward for such an outstanding principal,” added Thomas.

She cited the Government’s National Education Inspectorate 2019 school inspection report on MGHS, the last before the novel coronavirus pandemic, which appears to support their claims that Fullerton was a credit to the school:

“There is effective leadership provided at all levels of the school’s operations. The principal is a creative leader who displays a tremendous interest in the quality of the performance of the students. There is a focus from the office of the principal to utilise information technology to support instructional leadership…” the report said.

“Collaboratively, there are appropriate steps taken to have a shared mission and vision among the major stakeholder groups. There are noted improvements in the overall performance of the school with appropriate strategies implemented such as effective supervision, specifically, weekly walkthrough of lessons and termly appraisal of staff,” it added.

“…Senior leaders review lesson plans online and provide feedback to staff members. Further, the school’s leadership makes deliberate efforts at improving relationships, despite recent strains, there are good management systems executed at the school,” the report said.

The inclusion of “recent strains” in the report appears to be a reference to the long-running clashes between Dr Fullerton and the vice-principal of lower school, Loretta Ricketts, who is backed by the board chairman, over governing styles.

On the eve of the opening of school for the new academic year, Fullerton, returning from her summer break, overturned plans implemented by Ricketts, saying she had already put plans for the reopening in place and had not been consulted on the new arrangements with which she would be stuck for a full year.

But the board, at an emergency meeting, suspended Fullerton on grounds that her actions had “negatively impacted the school and caused unrest among the staff”. They had set September 21 for a disciplinary hearing which was put off till October 12, giving the board time to prepare documents requested by Fullerton’s attorney.